PC Internal Wiring Question

[Paulio]

Hey, i have a case that has alot of light mods inside, i was wondering, since they were all on the same power lead from my psu, if it would be possible get a driver power extention lead, fix longer leads to each end and send two of the wires to a switch therefore i could turn my pc off, flick the switch and then my pc`s lights wouldnt be on when i turned it on, as they arent great when you want to leave it on at night and your room is lit up like a christmat tree, im sorta new to this but general electrics is something i have an ok understanding on, on the power leads there are 4 leads, are two of them positive and negative, and if i did this would it work, would it cause any problems etc...



Thanks Paul

[Staz]

IIRC the blacks are both ground wires and the red is 5V and the yellow is 12V. A switch on the 12V line would work fine. If you are into modding then there a dozens of push button switches and or toggel switches that will do the trick and look trick to boot.

[Paulio]

so a switch on the 12v yellow one would do? also, switching on and off when the pc is on isnt good for it is it? like ive tryed similar things and after that the drives go silly like with the extra power, i could be wrong though.


Thanks Paul

[Favu]

If the lights plug into your PSU, then they draw DC current at a max of 12Volts, I belive, power that comes from a socket in the wall is AC and at 230Volts is the UK or 110 in the US of A, either way you would need a converter. Or you could fit a second PSU, plug the lights into that and rig up a switch to turn it on/off independantly of the main PC.

Favu.

[Got EpOx]

Seems like the logical thing to do unless you don;t have room for a second PSU. Anyway i'm sure someone knows the perfect solution.

[MONKEYMAN]

what I have done in the past is to select one molex connector and rip it off, as a rule the lights in a pc use 12v so cap the red wire and the black one next to it and tie them up. attach a switch to the yellow +12v cable and then put the two cable ends into a junction box and then run seperate wires of to each light or fan.

[MONKEYMAN]

like so, I apologise for the child like diagram.

[Paulio]

lol, its ok mine wouldnt be that good, umm if i bought one of these at extention cables, cut the other two completely off, then a switch on the yellow, would that work? of would i need it like your diagram? (as a noob i wouldnt be able to do that lol)

[MONKEYMAN]

that would work fine, for lights the only 2 wires you need are the yellow one and the black one next to it.

[Paulio]

ok, i`ll do that as i didnt want to go chopping up my new psu lol, it arrived today

[Paulio]

so if i had something that resembles the attatched image, thats it right?